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Panasonic Viera TC-P42S2

HDTV Review

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Motion
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Color Accuracy

Great color performance. RGB curves could have been smoother.

The Panasonic TC-P42S2 showed no problems maintaining a consistent color temperature. More on how we test color temperature.

Color Temperature Chart
Read Reviews of Comparison Products
Panasonic  Viera TC-P42U2


Panasonic Viera TC-P42U2
Samsung LN40C630


Samsung LN40C630
Sharp  Aquos LC-40LE700UN


Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700UN

The Panasonic TC-P42S2 had mixed results on the RGB color curve test. The chart below traces the performance of the red, green, and blue color channels, tested at each of their 255 values from darkest to brightest. An ideal chart would show smooth lines moving in unison (more or less). The Panasonic TC-P42S2’s chart has a lot of squiggles, each of which indicates some problem with displaying that portion of the spectrum. Portions where the line becomes horizontal, like the upper-right blue line, indicates an area where the TV simply can’t display any differentiation between those values. Overall, we’ve seen a lot worse than this, but we were not terribly impressed. More on how we test RGB curves.

RGB Curves Chart

The color strips below are digital recreations of the actual color response of each channel, compared with three similar televisions. If you compare it to the chart above, you can usually see correlations between bumps in the curve and visible shifts in color strips.

Red Response Comparison
Ideal Response
Panasonic Viera TC-P42S2 Red Response
Panasonic Viera TC-P42U2 Red Response
Samsung LN40C630 Red Response
Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700UN Red Response
Green Response Comparisons
Ideal Response
Panasonic Viera TC-P42S2 Green Response
Panasonic Viera TC-P42U2 Green Response
Samsung LN40C630 Green Response
Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700UN Green Response
Blue Response Comparisons
Ideal Response
Panasonic Viera TC-P42S2 Blue Response
Panasonic Viera TC-P42U2 Blue Response
Samsung LN40C630 Blue Response
Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700UN Blue Response

The Panasonic TC-P42S2 didn’t do a perfect job of matching up to the rec. 709 color standard, but most TVs don’t. Looking at the chart below, we see that the green point was undersaturated by quite a bit, but the red, blue, and white points weren’t too bad. More on how we test peak color gamut.

Color Gamut Chart

The table below contains all the numeric details of the Panasonic Viera TC-P42S2’s color gamut performance, compared to the rec. 709 standards.

Rec. 709 versus Panasonic Viera TC-P42S2
u' (rec.709/measured) v' (rec.709/measured) Error
Red 0.4507 / 0.4657 0.5229 / 0.5277 0.015749286
Green 0.125 / 0.1089 0.5625 / 0.572 0.018693849
Blue 0.1754 / 0.1743 0.1579 / 0.1525 0.005510898
D65 (White) 0.1978 / 0.1932 0.4683 / 0.4712 0.00543783
Other Models in the TC-PxxS2 Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.


Panasonic Viera TC-P46S2
46 in.


Panasonic Viera TC-P50S2
50 in.


Panasonic Viera TC-P54S2
54 in.


Panasonic TC-P58S2
58 in.


Panasonic Viera TC-P65S2
65 in.

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Panasonic Viera TC-P42S2
HDTV Review

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Blacks & Whites

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Motion